The Safeguarding Adults in Sport Framework is endorsed by Sport England, Sport Wales and UK Sport.
It is a national benchmark that helps sport and physical activity organisations assess, strengthen, and evidence their adult safeguarding arrangements. It plays a critical role in supporting Boards to fulfil their legal, moral, and governance responsibilities.
By using the Framework, Board members can monitor progress, hold senior leaders to account, and evaluate whether safeguarding culture and practise are improving. It helps identify gaps, highlight areas of potential risk, and ensures resources are directed where they’re needed most. This proactive insight helps prevent blind spots, strengthens assurance, and reduces organisational exposure to safeguarding failures. It can support strong governance through regular review, reflection and continuous improvement
Members of The Ann Craft Trust Safeguarding Adults in Sport team independently assess all submissions. They then provide detailed feedback on where criteria are met and where improvements may be necessary.
How Are The Active Partnerships Getting On With The Safeguarding Adults in Sport Framework?
At the time of writing, nearly 65% of Active Partnerships have now completed the Framework. Some have even chosen to re-submit for a second time.
Of the Active Partnerships that have completed, 35% have reached a “met” status. A further 38% have achieved a “conditionally met” status. Both of these are great outcomes, as “conditionally met” means there is a sound base of safeguarding measures in place to support adults involved in the organisation.
The “conditionally met” status may be because the Active Partnership has not yet addressed all of the “essential” criteria, or it may be that they have not provided sufficient evidence in the submission. It usually means, however, that they have identified actions demonstrating how they plan to address these gaps, along with further development plans. This means the organisation has shown a commitment to developing and embedding the practice of safeguarding adults.
The Ann Craft Trust are currently supporting the remaining 35% of Active Partnerships to complete the Framework, hopefully by the end of the calendar year. This will enable us to evaluate and feedback on submissions, providing useful guidance, before the end of the current funding period (March 2027).
Please do get in touch if you think we can support your AP or NGB with a Framework related query. Reach out to our Sport Administrator: sarah.nolan@nottingham.ac.uk
Framework Support Sessions
These free online sessions will delve deeper into the insights and learning from submissions. They will offer the opportunity to share and learn from examples of good practice. We can also explore any areas that may be challenging.
This session will explore:
- Insights and learning from recent Framework submissions
- Areas of good practice in safeguarding adults and examples of ‘what good looks like’
- Any areas/themes or criteria that may present challenges and how to work through them
Members of The Ann Craft Trust Safeguarding Adults in Sport team will be on hand to answer any questions.
Further Resources For Board Champions
- Learn more about how we support board champions here
- See an Example Role Description for a Board Safeguarding Champion here.
Sign Up To Our Board Champions Newsletter!
We offer lots of support to National Governing Bodies and Active Partnerships. We are here to help you build your confidence in safeguarding adults, so you can guide at strategic level to keep people safe from harm within your organisation and the community.
To support you in this role, we offer a dedicated Board Safeguarding Champion Newsletter. This is specifically designed to support those leading safeguarding at board level.
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- Tools to help you champion safer culture across your organisation
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